Ward 10 Alderman Andre Chabot | City of Calgary Office of the Alderman

Forest Lawn Recycling Depot
The City of Calgary recycling depot, located in Forest Lawn has been an integral part of the recycling infrastructure in Calgary. While the depot has been well utilized by area residents, the land used to host the depot is soon to be redeveloped by Calgary Co-op. As a result the Forest Lawn depot located at 3330 - 17th Avenue S.E. will be permanently closed on January 3, 2012.

Efforts are being made to find a suitable home for a recycling depot in the near vicinity. In the meantime we are encouraging Calgarians to continue bringing their recyclables to the nearby recycling depot at Marlborough Mall located in the 500 Block of 36 St. N.E.

This location will continue to accept:
- Plastics with the recycling symbol 1-7 (excluding Styrofoam)
- Plastic bags
- Paper and cardboard
- Glass jars and bottles
- Metal food cans and foil
- Beverage containers
For more information on The City of Calgary recycling programs, please visit calgary.ca/recycling or call 3-1-1.

Waste & Recycling Services has announced the four communities selected for a residential food and yard waste pilot. The pilot will involve the communities of Abbeydale, Brentwood, Cougar Ridge and Southwood starting in March 2012.

Nearly 8,000 homes will participate in the pilot that will test weekly collection of food and yard waste including citizen experience with green carts. The City will also test collection of black garbage carts every other week to maintain efficiency of the waste and recycling collection system.

Waste & Recycling Services established several criteria and then consulted with the area aldermen in selecting the pilot communities:
- Ability to test front curb and back lane collection;
- Communities with different volumes of yard waste – i.e., established neighborhoods with higher volumes of yard material (mature trees and vegetation) and newer communities with smaller volumes;
- A mix of housing types – single family homes up to and including fourplexes;
- Varied collection days;
- Communities with no more than 2,000 homes each;
- Whole communities to participate for ease of communication and education.

"Food and yard waste makes up nearly 60 per cent of residential garbage going to landfill," said Dave Griffiths, Director of Waste & Recycling Services.

Food and yard material in a landfill does not break down into compost but instead produces carbon dioxide and methane, which are powerful greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Composting this material represents the biggest opportunity to achieve Council's goal of diverting 80 per cent of waste from landfills by 2020 for the residential sector

"By composting food and yard waste, instead of sending it to the landfill, we can reduce waste and greenhouse gases, decrease our dependence on landfills and produce compost, a valuable product," said Griffiths.

Each home in the pilot communities currently receiving blue and black cart collection will receive a green cart, kitchen pail and compostable pail liners for food waste, and paper yard waste bags. They will also receive an information package explaining how to participate, what materials are accepted and a collection schedule.

- There will be no charge to pilot participants.
- The green carts are about 120 liters – half the size of the blue and black carts we are now using.
- In the pilot, residents will use the green carts for their compostable materials – including all fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, bones, food-soiled paper and dairy products – as well as yard waste. Residents will use the paper bags for any additional yard waste.
- The green carts will be collected every week just like the blue carts for recycling.
- Black cart garbage collection in the pilot communities will occur every other week since most of the material that decomposes and produces odours will be in the green carts.
- Only two carts will be collected on the same day. The third one will be collected on a separate day during the same week. Waste & Recycling Services will test different combinations – blue and black carts on the same day or blue and green together.
- Waste & Recycling Services will communicate with pilot community residents through a variety of ways including open houses, direct mail, instructional materials with the carts, community newsletters, educator visits, and The City website calgary.ca/greencart.

Feedback from participants will be collected throughout the pilot and Waste & Recycling Services will report back to Council by March 2013 with results of the pilot and recommendations for a city-wide program.

As part of a graduated enforcement effort to ensure that City parks are accessible to all Calgarians, The City of Calgary yesterday filed an injunction application at the Court of Queen's Bench. The application asks named and unnamed individuals associated with Occupy Calgary be enjoined from continuing to breach the City's Parks and Pathways bylaw.

This action follows 24-hour warnings given on November 15 by The City, and subsequent issuing of summonses to those occupying Olympic Plaza and removal of unoccupied tents and material on November 21. Occupiers were served last night with copies of the application indicating that the Court will be asked to rule on this application on Friday, December 2, 2011.

In its application, The City has asked the Court to order the removal of all tents, structures, and other material from Olympic Plaza; to restrain the occupiers from erecting tents or other structures in any other park or land owned by The City; to restrain the occupiers from camping in any other park or land owned by the City; and to restrain the occupiers from continuing any other breaches of the Parks and Pathways bylaw.

Update on Actions by The City with Respect to Occupy Calgary

While diversity of opinion is valued, occupiers' rights must be carefully balanced against the rights of citizens who wish to book and access the park. The City has acted in good faith with occupiers and is not seeking any remedy that would remove the occupiers' rights to express themselves provided they comply with the Parks and Pathways bylaw. Despite many attempts on The City's part to end the Olympic Plaza occupation through negotiation, protesters have remained at the site beyond the 24-hour warning period, and even after summonses were issued. The occupiers were fully informed of The City’s intent to graduate enforcement if non-compliance continued.
Olympic Plaza is frequently used by Calgarians during the winter festive season and several bookings are scheduled throughout the month of December. The timing of the application was chosen in part to attempt to obtain compliance with the bylaw prior to booked events. The City anticipates that the occupiers will seek to adjourn the application either to obtain legal counsel or to extend their occupation of the Plaza. Any adjournment application will be opposed by The City in an effort to maintain the current December schedule at the Plaza.

Animal & Bylaw Services will continue to work closely with the Calgary Police Service, other City departments and business units to monitor the Occupy situation. Anyone choosing not to comply with the Parks and Pathways bylaw or any other City bylaw will be subject to the enforcement provisions of the bylaw which include ticketing.